Chapter 9: Social Commerce Creates New Customer Relationships

1) Assess the people, organization, and technology issues for using social media to engage with customers.

Answer:

We can assess the people, organization, and technology issues using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to engage with customer.

•  Powerful tolls for engaging customer and asses the people, organization, and technology issues.
• Companies are rolling out ads that capitalize on the social media features of Facebook to achieve greater visibility.
• Twitter has developed many new offerings to interested advertisers, like Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends.
• Facebook targeting capabilities to determine which type of people respond to the various ads it has created.
• Many companies are running online ads that focus less on pitching their product than on promoting their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.
• The ads feature menu  tabs and allow users to click within the ad to see a brand’s Twitter messages or Facebook wall posts in real time, or to watch a brand’s video content from YouTube-all within the Web page where the ad appears.
• Even if the Facebook or Twitter postings in ads show brands apologizing about missteps or customer complaints, advertisers may still benefit. 

2) What are the advantage and disadvantage of using social media for advertising, brand building, market research, and customer service?

Answer:

Advantages:

• Building Brand Awareness

One of the most obvious reasons for using Social Media Marketing is to build brand awareness and it certainly does if used correctly.

• Reach a Large Audience

Using social media to market our business online will without a doubt help us reach a larger audience. In a way, the more people we reach, the better brand awareness we have but with social media, there is a lot of noise. We need to make sure we use a tool like Hoot suite so we can eliminate all of the noise and focus on reaching the people who want to engage with us.

• Great for SEO

Social Media or even more specific, Google+ is great for boosting our SEO. Google is picking up on how much activity each business is doing on social media and will rank our business accordingly. The more active and fresh content we are posting on our social media accounts, the better our business will rank on Google and it really is, as simple as that.

• Cost Effective

Social Media Marketing doesn’t cost you a penny, unless you want it to. You can market on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and any other social network for free. If we want to run competitions or use a few select third party tools, we may end up have to pay a small fee but on the whole, social media marketing is very cost effective.

• Become a Thought Leader

Using Social Media to market our business can make us a thought leader in our selected field.

Disadvantages: 

• Understanding on how it works

We need to understand how social media works, when and how to use it and which channels to focus on depending on our end goal of using social media in order to get its full effects.

• Commits illegal crime

Social media may open possibility for hackers to commit illegal crime such as fraud, spam and virus attacks. People falling prey to online scam may also increase, resulting in data or identity theft.

• Viral social disadvantage

This may damage one’s reputation. The wrong online brand strategy could put us on this.

• Negative effects on worker productivity

Results in lost productivity and employees may use social media to attack the company’s reputation. Instead of working in their time of work, they can waste such valuable time using social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. This may result in negative comments from employees about the company or potential legal consequences if employees use these sites to view objectionable, illicit or offensive material.

• Distraction

Most people who suffer from this are students. Instead of doing their homework’s they tend to fail their academic endeavours because of using social media in the wrong way.

• Serious detrimental outcomes on individual’s health

When social media is used in a wrong way, it may have a negative effect on both mental and physical health of individual.

3) Should all companies use Facebook and Twitter for customer service and advertising? Why or why not? What kinds of companies are best suited to use these platform?

Answer:

            Now days, people are not call up a company and complain or tell their feedback. Now, they are more likely to head to their smartphones or computers to tell the world how a product is. That’s why social media platform like Facebook, Twitter is important for customer service.

Example of company which use Twitter for Customer service:

            JetBlue Excels in Responsiveness. Airline delays are one of the most common causes of customer frustration. JetBlue ensures they’re responsive to their customers because they understand it’s important for continued customer loyalty. They engage with happy customers, but they also respond to and help frustrated customers as quickly as possible.

            JetBlue is to be extremely responsive to customers mentioning their brand. Whether they send public a reply or a private DM to answer a question, they are quick to interact. As seen in the picture above, they reached out to their frustrated customer within the hour.

            Social media is a channel where customers get quick responses. Social media platform help companies to response quickly to customer. Many companies dedicate full-time employees to the task of responding to customers and potential customers on social media. Social media help to satisfy customer needs.

Moreover, social media help find all this things.

• Social Listening (Listening for conversations about your company, competitors or other topics of interest)
• Social Conversation (Finding and responding to conversations online – engaging with others in social media)
• Social Marketing (Launching and running campaigns and promotions in social media)
• Social Analytics(Measuring and analyzing results of social media efforts across various platforms)
• Social Influencer (Identifying and engaging with influencers that are relevant to your company or industry)

               Social media platform is cheaper than traditional marketing and advertising methods. Promote a product using social networking sites by determining where their customers and potential customers are, and getting their product visible on those sites.

Facebook page

            Companies’ product can have its own page, where people can like it, comment on it, leave reviews and even link to your website so they can buy it. Companies can offer incentives such as coupons and discounts. Invite people to share company page with their friends so company community can grow.

Twitter account

            Companies can set up an account on Twitter for their product and promote it by attracting followers. Companies have to come up with brief messages that describe and promote their product. Follow people, brands and companies that might be interested in their product. The more people a company follow, the more followers that company have a chance of attracting.

            In our opinion all companies are best suited to use social media platform. At the same time the company should figure out what they want to accomplish via Social Media. Moreover, what are their human resources, and how many people can work on their social media efforts. Finally, how long is their project going to be.

Chapter 7: Information Security Threats and Policies In Europe

1. What is a botnet?

• The term bot is short for robot. Criminals distribute malicious software (also known as malware) that can turn the computer into a bot (also known as a zombie). When this occurs, the computer can perform automated tasks over the Internet, without us knowing it.
• Criminals typically use bots to infect large numbers of computers. These computers form a network, or a botnet.
• A botnet is a network of autonomous malicious software agents that are under the control of a bot commander.
• The network is created by installing malware that exploits the vulnerabilities of Web servers, operating systems, or applications to take control of the infected computers.
• Once a computer is infected, it becomes part of a network of thousands of “zombies”, machines that are commanded to carry out the attack.

2. Describe some of the main points of the Digital Agenda for Europe.

The main points of the Digital Agenda for Europe are:

• Create a new and stable broadband regulatory environment.

-Broadband speeds of 30 Mbps will be available to all European citizens by 2020.

-Guarantee universal broadband coverage

• New public digital service infrastructure through Connecting Europe Facility loans.

- exploit the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in order to foster innovation, economic growth and progress.

•  Propose EU cyber-security strategy and Directive.

- For instance, to react in real-time conditions, a well function and wider network of Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) should be established in Europe.

- At a more operational level, internationally coordinated information security targeted actions should be pursued, and joint action should be taken to fight computer crime, with the support of a renewed European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA).

• Digital Single Market

- Europe has successfully dismantled cross-border barriers to trade in most physical goods and many services.

- Leveraging Europe’s digital strengths into global competitiveness, economic wealth and sustainable jobs requires the creation of a European Digital Single Market, where business can be conducted online as easily as via traditional channels.

-The Digital Single Market will require greater harmonization across policy areas to eliminate existing obstacles to the provision of pan-European online commerce and services.

•   Launch grand Coalition on digital skills and jobs

- We need to both grow our ICT sector and drive the development of individuals with the necessary understanding and skills at all levels of the value chain.

- Europe must set ambitious goals for 2015 including halving the digital literacy and competence gaps and guaranteeing that all primary and secondary schools have high-speed Internet connections. By 2012 the EU should ensure all primary and secondary school students receive training about the risks and safe use of the Internet. All adults of working age should have access to e-Skills training.

• Update EU’s copyright framework.

- diverging copyright licensing; copyright levy systems unfit for the digital age; differing data protection rules; different consumer protection regimes; contrasting interpretations of intermediary liability; technology neutral standards; lack of radio-spectrum harmonization; lack of effective payment systems to facilitate cross-border transactions and a lack of Europe-wide organised recycling schemes to support large-scale operations.

•   Accelerate cloud computing through public sector buying power.
• Launch new electronics industrial strategy – an “Airbus of Chips”

3. Explain how a cyber attack can be carried out.

There are two types and techniques of cyber attacks commonly used include:

Distributed denial-of-service

A denial of service attack occurs when “an attacker attempts to prevent legitimate users from accessing information or services.” This is typically accomplished when the attacker overloads a system with requests to view information. This would be an example of a remote attack. By extension, a distributed denial of service (DDoS) occurs when multiple computers are involved in a denial of service attack causing an even larger amount of traffic on the target website.

Vulnerability

Vulnerability is some part of the system that the attacker can take advantage of or manipulate A safe cracker, for instance, must know where the safe is and how to get into it. The vulnerability would require knowledge of the safe, its locking mechanism and what aspects may be exploited. The payload, in this case, would be a bag full of money. Given these three aspects, prior intelligence is needed to understand what access is available and what vulnerability can be exploited in order to attack precise targets.

This figure shows how a cyber attack was carried out.

4. Describe some of the weakness exploited by malware.

Malware is a program that is inserted into a system.

• The Web is made up of billions of pages created by different people with different levels of technical skills, offering rich content in many different formats. Accessing some of this content requires helper applications, such as media players. Many different types of back-end software serve up these web pages, content, and many of those formats, applications, and tools have weaknesses hackers can exploit.
• Hackers use vulnerabilities to create exploits that let them penetrate your computer or network. Often, when you visit an infected webpage or open an infected email, the attack code starts snooping around for any known weaknesses in your system.
• The level of sophistication is remarkable in that the malware sites can actually identify the particulars of your computer and operating system and infect or attack the system appropriately. For instance, if you run Safari as your browser, the malware sites will not bother trying any known Internet Explorer vulnerabilities. Instead, they focus on Safari or Safari plug-in weaknesses.
• When a useful vulnerability is found, the goal of the malware attack is to create a buffer overflow condition in your computer. This then gives the malware the capability to initiate the download of harmful code, the key loggers, botnet software, spyware ad generators, or others.
• Malware creators and distributors also take advantage of "weaknesses" in human nature, such as curiosity, trust, and desire for connection, and carelessness, to dupe users into handing over the keys to their system security.

Chapter 6: Monitoring Employees on Networks: Unethical or Good Business?

1) Should managers monitor employee e-mail and Internet usage? Why or why not?

Answer:

Managers can monitor employee e-mail and Internet because a research found about 77 percent of workers with Facebook account use them during work hours. Moreover average employee wastes approximately 30 percent of the workday on-work-related Web browsing, while 90 percent of employee receive or send personal e-mail at work. This all refer that effect the company which is:

• Create serious business problem.
• Nonstop interruptions that divert employee attention from the job task they are supposed to be performing.
• The managers worry about the loss of time and employee productivity when employee is focusing on personal rather than company business.
• Too much time on personal business translates into lost revenue.
• The company networks is too high, it also clog the company’s network so that legitimate business work cannot be performed.
• The employee can be send confidential or potentially embarrassing company e-mail to outsiders

2) Describe an effective e-mail and Web use policy for a company

Answer

• Effective e-mail and Web use policy is can lay out specific procedures and accountabilities, identifying which users and organizational units can share information, where information can be distributed , and who is responsible for updating and maintaining the information.
• The company can use software from Spector Soft Corporation that record all Web site employee visit, time spend at each site and all e-mail send.
• The company also can use e-mail monitoring software flags certain type of messages and keywords within messages for further investigation.
• Company use policy that includes explicit ground rules that state, by position or level, under what circumstance employee can use company facilities foe e-mail, blogging, or Web surfing.

3) Should managers inform employees that their Web behavior is being monitored? Or should mangers monitor secretly? Why or why not?

Answer:

The managers should inform the employees that their uses of the web is monitored. This is because:

• To avoid employees using their personal business
• Employees can concentrate during their work hours. 
• Improve company productivity
• Let employees know exactly where the company stands.
• Monitoring might help pinpoint the user who was actually logged on rather than the one assumed to be the cause of the problem.

     

Chapter 5: Asking the Customer by Asking the Database

1) Why would a customer database be so useful for a company such as Forbes or Kodak? What would happen if these companies had not kept their customer data in database?

Answer:

Customer database be so useful for a company such as Forbes or Kodak because to make a better and proper decision on their business level. Customer database also useful for understand their customer behavior and at the same time needs and wants of their customer. Customer database helps them to find out their target customers. Customer database also helps to examining Forbe’s entire reader’s population, using the data it had already accumulated on a regular basis. Kodak has been able to replace its crude customer “personas” with detailed in depth profile of customers groups and buying based on actual data.

If these companies not kept theirs data in database mean they cannot conduct their business activities very well. They might not able to take good decision on their business level. They also unable to fulfill their customers according to their needs and want and at the same time cannot find the accurate target customers of their companies. They also might unable to advertise their products in proper ways.

2) List and describe two entities and several of their attributes that might be found in Kodak’s marketing database.

Answer:

A) Two entities are :

• Allowing customer data to drive marketing decision.

-This entity help Kodak companies successfully transition from making photographic film to becoming a leading provider of imaging technology products and service, including digital photography.

• Make decision on top-down manner

- This made with annual budgets for broadcast, print, direct mail, online, e-mail and other marketing program based on previous year’s spending. Campaign were built around fictional customer “personas” that were more aspirational than real.

 B) Several of their attributes that might be found in Kodak’s marketing database are Kodak now     relies more heavily on actual data in its oracle customer database, which maintains data on 50 million customer compiled from direct purchases and registration on Kodak’s web site and photo sharing site, customer-service interactions from social networks. Kodak supplement these data with demographic and psychographic information purchased from third party database vendors. Instead of combining data from numerous spreadsheets, the company has consolidated data on all of its marketing activities, including customer targets, campaign plan, budgets, list and results.

3)  How did better data management improve each company’s business performance? Give examples of two decisions that were improved by mining this customer database.

Answer:

Data management improve each company’s business performance

• Controlling and securing product-related data
• Improving the ability to quickly find and reuse information
• Sharing product knowledge with other departments

Forbes

• Using SAP Business Objects software to analyze its own readership data, examining variables of greatest interest to its advertisers.
• Understand each individual who interacts with its brand.
• Help Forbes’s advertisers target their campaigns more precisely
• Help Forbes publications increase their circulation.

Kodak

• Allowing customer data to drive marketing decisions
• Measure the actual effect of promotional offers, customer segmentations and messaging across all of its channels.